An old favorite

The weather has finally started to look a bit more promising, therefore the kids and I have been spending some long overdue time outside. I love the fact that my kids love to be outside whenever the opportunity arises. We made a snowman yesterday, and today when we went outside we found our "rock" smile had fallen out and the dog had swiped the two sticks we had put in for arms, as well he found the need to remove the hat and scarf and leave it on the doorstep. Sheesh...oh well! I managed to do a couple laps running up and down the driveway pulling my oldest two in their toboggan, it won't be long before the driveway is a muddy mess, so with that said we spent three hours in the sunshine and snow! The kids were having so much fun, but I knew I had a nice piece of salmon waiting for me to cook in the house! In we went...the kids played in the tub while I sat and pondered "what's for dinner tonight?" Fret no more, I had it planned... I am a huge fan of MEAL PLANNING! I love the fact that I can sit down and spend time with my cookbooks and come up with two week's worth of amazing meals in half an hour! Better yet, I love the fact that my food budget can be between $400 and $500 a month, compared to some people's $900 to $1000! Even though we are now gluten, wheat and soy free, I have still managed to keep our budget in check. Being gluten free does not mean that you stop enjoying food, quite the opposite actually. Being gluten and soy free means becoming educated, becoming really aware of what you are putting into your body, becoming creative, becoming healthy, becoming happy! I have never felt better in my life (and I usually feel pretty darn good!!) Anyways, where was I...oh yes what's for dinner tonight! So Being a Pescetarian ( The Webster dictionary defines it as " one whose diet includes fish but no meat.") I love salmon, probably eat it 3 nights a week, tonight I was keeping it simple. Pan seared Salmon with a nice blend of herbs and spices, along side a tasty blend of brown and wild rice. I opened the fridge to check produce availability and came across a nice looking head of cauliflower. So tonight I was taking it back to when I was a child and my mom use to make Cauliflower with Cheese. Mmmm.... So our salmon was paired with a Gluten Free version of Cauliflower and Velvety Cheese Sauce. My kids could not get enough, they literally inhaled it! Best I've seen them eat all week!! So here's the recipe for you to try! Gluten Free <
Velvety Cheese Sauce
Try spreading this on your favorite vegetable, or perhaps you need a dip for your corn tortillas? Do what you will, this sauce is fantastic!
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp gluten free flour blend of your choice
1 1/2 cups of milk (of your choice, I use rice!)
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 cup of cheddar cheese (grated)
salt and pepper to taste
1) Over medium heat melt butter and slowly incorporate flour until the consistency of play dough.
2) Slowly whisk in milk 1/4 cup at a time (the slower you go the less lumps) Turn down heat to medium-low.
3) Add mustard and season with salt and pepper, continue stirring at all times to prevent burning. You will want to cook this for approximately 10 minutes to be sure your flour has "cooked" and your sauce has thickened.
4) Add cheese and stir until melted. Enjoy!

What was your favorite food as a kid? Pizza was definately mine...perhaps tomorrow will be pizza night, stay tuned!

Meatless Monday

After arriving home after a long drive there was nothing better I could think of doing than making some comfort food. My husband took the kids outside to play in the snow while I kept busy creating in the kitchen. My first thought was, "what am I going to make for supper" I needed something vegetarian. I have been a vegetarian (ok I eat seafood...infact I love salmon!) for almost ten years, my husband on the other hand is a carnivore through and through. But I have made mondays Meatless for awhile now...and there have been little or no complaints.

Evan loves meatloaf, I was unsure how this recipe was going to go over, but I attempted it anyways. The recipe called for canned black beans, I didn't have any so I cooked some black eyed beans; it also asked for a can of lentils....once again I cooked them from scratch. So my two cents for you are: If you have it, great, use it...if not comprimise! I prefer to cook from scratch, but don't get me wrong I will use canned beans if i am short on time. I loved the flavour, and with the mushroom gravy I made, I think these protein and fiber packed muffins will be a repeat, be sure not to overcook them!

Meatless Monday Meatloaf

This protein packed vegetarian meal can easily be made into either 12 muffins or a loaf, you decide!

1 1/3 cup canned lentils, drained

1 1/3 cup canned black beans, drained

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 cup ground almonds

2 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp dried parsley

2 tsp cumin

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1) Preheat oven to 375F

2) In food processor, coarsely chop the lentils and beans.

3) Add ground almonds, garlic, parsley, cumin, olive oil and lemon juice. Pulse until combined

4) Scrape into a bowl, and fold in rice.

5) Press into greased muffin pan or loaf pan.

6) Bake 12 minutes for muffins and 25 minutes for a loaf.

This recipe can easily have your choice of seasonings or herbs added to enhance the flavours. I think fresh tomatoes would be a great paring for this meal!

Road Trip!

So I decided to be really adventurous and head to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with my mom and little sister this weekend for a hockey tournament. I, of course, have all three of my darlings in tow; this is an adventure simply because this will be the first time we have been eating away from home for more than one meal! I know you are probably wondering...what are we going to eat? Well...the trip here was full of snack food, we drove 5 hours the kids had: popcorn, homemade granola bars, pears, and I splurged and got them a store bought treat....GLUTEN FREE DONUTS (actually delicious!).

We arrived at our hotel room and while my mom and sister headed off to hockey, I stayed in the room with the kids and we had a picnic...cheese, rice crackers, cucumber, fruit...real gourmet, I know! Needless to say the kids were asleep before 7, so I figured they must have been full!
Now my mom beats anyone I know for organizational skills, so much so that she brought her VITAMIX with her, and so we had amazing fruit smoothies for breakfast, and we also had the GF Chai Muffins I had baked at home and brought.

So far so good...off to the rink at 6:30 am!!! The kids had a blast playing in the arcade, pretending to drive race cars and play buck hunt! (I feel like I was just doing these things!!!) There is not a single thing to order at a hockey arena concession when you have wheat, gluten and soy allergies....OK so we found apple juice. But the fries were coated in wheat, the deep fryer may have contained soybean oil, they didn't have fruit....so we had some more dried fruit and nuts brought from home!!!

Lunchtime: We hit up the restaurant at our hotel! Wowzers, $3 for an orange juice, you have got to be kidding me? Hard to say "no" when our waiter walks up to our table holding a jug of what looks like mouthwatering freshly squeezed O.J. ! I ordered a smoked salmon, cheddar and spinach omelet with a side of fruit instead of toast (to be split three ways) and the kids had some strawberry yogurt as well! Tasty, but definitely not worth the price tag!
Back to the arena we go....more arcade, more dried fruit and nuts, and Grama treated the kids to a Ginger ale!

So hockey was over for the day which meant time for the hotel pool. My kids LOVE the water, and so it was a perfect end to a busy day at the arena! My aunt in-law came to spend the day with us and recommended a fabulous "healthy Chinese food restaurant". We googled GENESIS and found the phone number to this perfect sounding source for our evening meal. I spoke with both Gary and Rae on the phone and they couldn't have been more accommodating. I let them know of our allergies, and also asked if they would deliver..."sure, no problem". We ordered steamed rice, shrimp with snow peas, and pan fried veggies. Our dinner arrived, wheat and gluten free, soy free and MSG free! It was absolutely amazing; veggies still crisp, shrimp perfectly tender, rice beautiful and fluffy, YUM! Thank you to the wonderful and efficient service at GENESIS FAMILY RESTAURANT, Saskatoon's First Health Food Restaurant. Highly recommend checking them out on your next time through!

So, all in all this has been a great weekend. Kids have been excellent, and the best part is they don't whine and complain if I tell them they are allergic to something. I love my kids!

Trying to decide what the first recipe I share with you is going to be...any requests?

The Beginning

What a great place to start....the beginning!

I want this blog to be somewhere where you can come for information, for a laugh, for a cry, for a great recipe to test out on your family! So starting to day, this is the beginning. I look forward to where this road is leading, I am happy you are here with me!

Please stay tuned will be posting my first shared recipe soon....